For Lesley :)

I know it has been forever since I've blogged and I really have no excuse except for sometimes I feel like I have nothing to blog about. My cousin Lesley has been telling me for quite some time now that I need to rejoin the blog world, so this blog is for my beautiful cousin. Love ya Les!!!

This is a picture of my cousins Michelle and Lesley and myself taken at our last Mailes Family reunion almost two years ago. I am really sad that I will be missing the reunion this year and even sadder that I won't get to see these girls. They are the best cousins anyone could ask for! I love my family and miss them everyday! Now come visit me Les!!! :)

Books, books and more books

I love reading, but sometimes it just seems like there's not enough hours in the day to sit down and start a book. Once I start a book, I get completely consumed by it and can't put it down until I finish it. The Twilight series was a bad thing for me and then I read My Sister's Keeper and am addicted to Jodi Piccoult books. So addicted that I've started ordering them off Ebay. I just bought Mitch Albom's new book Have a Little Faith. I haven't had time to start it yet. We are leaving Wednesday on a 12 hour drive to Arizona, so I'm hoping to use that time for some good quality reading.

Here are some of my favorite books

I have never really been into vampires, but have joined the rest of the world in the Twilight craze.

My Sister's Keeper was a real tear jerker, but such a great book. I didn't see the movie in theaters, but can't wait for it to come out on DVD.

The Shack is such a great book. Really makes you think about things.

I really loved this book. It really shows you that everyone is in your life for a reason.

These are just a few of my favorites. There are so many more books on my reading list, hopefully I get around to reading them all.

Wedding Photos by Kristy Ahumada

We got our wedding pictures last week and we are so pleased with the way they turned out! Kristy and her assistant Andrea did an amazing job capturing all the special moments of our big day! I am so excited that we have found such a great photographer. We will definitely be using Kristy for all of our professional portraits.

I am still working on getting all the pictures on my computer (there's 582 of them). But, here are a few of my favorites so far.








As I was uploading these, I realized that I already had a lot of favorites. It's going to be so hard to decide which ones we actually want to print off larger than 4x6.

All of our photos are up on Kristy's website. The link is www.volatilephotography.smugmug.com. Then scroll down and click on Lindsay + Jeremy and the password is penngrovelove9509. Let me know which ones you like best and think we should get larger prints.

XOXO

Arizona

This past weekend, we went to Arizona for Christina's (soon to be sister-in-law) bridal shower. We always have such a good time with Randy and Christina. I really couldn't ask for a better brother and sister-in-law. We got there at 5 pm on Friday evening and left Sunday morning at 11 am. It was a short trip, but filled with fun. Friday night, we went to Dos Gringos for happy hour and then spent the evening hanging out, catching up, stair sledding and playing Rockband. Saturday, we took a trip to Target to look for Halloween costumes and then Christina and I headed to her sisters for her bridal shower. Her sister was an amazing hostess!!! Christina loved the Mrs. Bitzer tank top I got her. Saturday night, we got all dressed up and went out to eat and to Wal-Mart. Then, we went back to their place and played Apples to Apples and of course a little more Rockband. Sunday morning, Jeremy and I got up and made the long 12 hour drive back. It was a great trip and we were sad to leave them, but are so excited to go back in a few weeks for their wedding!!!

Cheesing!

Christina stair sledding

The pretty bride to be

Soon to be sisters

A witch, a beer maiden and a flight attendant

My pilot and me

Michael Jackson and his beer maiden

Wondering...

Why is it that as soon as you get married, people start asking when you are going to start having kids??? Is it just that it seems like that should be the next step?

I'm not saying I don't want kids because I definitely do. I just don't know if I'm ready for them right now. I would like to spend a little bit of time just enjoying my husband and enjoying being married. I would also like to be a little more settled than we are now, as in financially stable, car paid off, possibly buy a house first, etc. I did have this big plan to wait until I'm 30 to start having kids. I figure, I'm only three years away, so I might as well wait. But... I will have to admit, after getting married and being around my friends with babies, it does make me think I could be ready now. So, I've kind of decided that we definitely aren't trying, but if it happens sooner than later it would be ok. :)

I'm sure my mom, mother-in-law, Michelle and everyone else that is ready for us to start having kids would be happy to hear this. But, still don't start thinking it's going to happen anytime soon.

Chocolate Covered Peanut

Before I moved to California last year, I talked Jeremy into buying me a puppy as a "moving" present. Jeremy's parents have miniature dachshunds and we love them so much that we decided to get one for ourselves. I started looking online and fell in love with this little 2 pound puppy from Texas. Jeremy and I talked to the breeder and decided we would have him shipped to Kansas City when I went to pick Jeremy up from the airport, so the little guy could make the 1800 mile drive to our new home in California with us. The breeder told us he was going to stay pretty little, maybe 8 pounds fully grown. After much consideration, we decided to name him Peanut. He did great on the trip out to California and has been such a joy ever since. We moved in with Jeremy's parents when we first got to Cali. He was in heaven running around with their 4 mini dachshunds!!! We moved into a townhouse around Halloween and Peanut dressed up as a pumpkin for all the trick-or-treaters. He was a little sad living in the townhouse with no playmates, so we decided to get him a kitty to play with. My brother-in-law and soon to be sister-in-law came here for Christmas and brought their mini dachshund Blitz with them. So, there were 6 weiner dogs running around the in-laws house. In March, we moved into a rental house across from Jeremy's parents, so now Peanut gets tons of playdates with all the dogs. He loves it at our house, and loves having a backyard!!! He is such a funny little guy. So here are some of my favorite pictures of Peanut aka Nutty, Chocolate Covered Peanut, Nutty, Nutty Butter, Butternut Squash, Peanut Butter and his rap name Nut Master P. :)

CHP Baby!!!

Jeremy just found out that he got assigned a background investigator for CHP. This is such great news!!! We've only been waiting almost 5 months to hear something. We were getting a little worried because other people we know that applied for CHP and had their interview after Jeremy had already gotten the call from their background investigators. Jeremy still hasn't officially gotten the call, but he called the office and they said that the background investigator assigned to him has been out of the office this last month, so that's why he hasn't received a call. Now, we're just waiting for the first of November for the background investigator to call him and tell him what to do next. The next academy starts in December, so hopefully he will get everything done in time to start then!!! He will be gone 6 months (except weekends), but it will all be worth it in the end!!!

Tonight, I'm cooking my hubby a celebratory dinner of salisbury steaks, roasted potatoes, corn and crescent rolls. I'm definitely a beginner at cooking, so wish me luck!!!